Body & Paint. Is this possible for a $2K budget?

[hrstudioplus]

My Malaga daily driver is getting close to body and paint time. I don't need a world class paint restoration, I drive this thing every day and it gets scratched and dinged up constantly, just need something nice and presentable that will last me.

Does anybody know a place in LA that's in the 2K price range? I would go as far as removing all trim and glass myself and having it towed there.

Any suggestions besides Maaco and One Day Paint would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hassan

[Guest]

Hassan,

It's hard to get a good paint and body work in L.A. for that price. I'm sure you could find guys out there that can promise you they can for 2k but I bet they would cut many corners to even make money on the job. It will show in the work.

[tbrduc]

In NoVA, I checked with 3 places and got a similar answer. To do it properly, remove all trim, take it all the way down to metal in some areas, and re-spray original color, including trunk and inner surfaces, assuming minimal body work..look at $5k.

I can save some labor by stripping the body myself.

[Mike Self]

If you're willing to do some work yourself, you just might be able to squeeze it by...here's how--and this assumes you can do at least minor body work (filling in little dings, doing a credible sanding job etc) and there's no real rust (holes) or serious body damage to the car.

Find a body shop that's willing to work with you. The chain paint shops--MAACO, Earl Scheib--usually will; others probably too.

* Remove the trim yourself, and pull the rear quarter glass. If the windshield and backlight are not leaking and the gaskets aren't bad, leave 'em alone. You can easily mask around the vent wings and door glass.

* Sand the car down--if you don't know how, have someone experienced show you. 90% of a paint job is in the prep, so the better job you do here the nicer it'll turn out. And most of the cost is in the prep, so if you do it yourself, you save big $$$

* Take it to the shop, remove the outer door handles and other stuff that kept it driveable (tail lights, turn signals etc) and then mask everything off that isn't to be painted. Again, time consuming but money saving. To do windshield and backlight gaskets, pry the lip up and slip a piece of vinyl-coated wire clotheline underneath, then mask over the lip. Won't leave a part line that way.

* Meet and greet the painter that's doing the job, determine his favorite beverage, and promise him a quantity if he does an extra careful job of shooting. Have him look it over and tell you any sanding or masking spots you missed; be prepared to re-sand/mask on the spot.

Betcha you can get it done for less than $2K that way...

Good luck

mike

[TobyB]

That's the retail cost of the materials for a decent paint job these days...

t

[ThatGuy]

Doing your own disassembly and stripping will definitely save you lots of labor cost.

Be sure to check with your painter before you do any filler or body work.

In my shop, I don't mind projects where the owner wants to save some money by getting his/her hands dirty. But, if you are not familiar with body work you may end up costing more than you save if your work has to be re-done. If it were brought to me stripped, I would prefer that no body work was done, just stripped, then I know what we're dealing with .

But it's up to the one painting it and what they prefer.

If you have rust, forget about that 2k budget.

Don't forget that not all the cost is labor. If you want quality paint, plan on $600 to $1000 just for your solid color top coat. Base coat/clear coat and Metallics are a little more. You can get the cheaper paint but it may not last as long. (Also, red costs more than any other color.)

[schwartzerritter]

putting doors fenders on,pull trim fix all rust small stuff here and there patch spare tire and driver's floor repair/repaint to factor for 3000.00. I took the check to Sam that day. He has done crash repair before for me.I am blessed or thr Baron is.

delk

[SteveJ]

(Also, red costs more than any other color.)

Funny how it's come full circle. Red used to be the most inexpensive paint, which is part of the reason barns were painted red. I know the one wall in our house that was painted red was a total PITA and took about 6 applications to do right.

Maybe a Sahara car wouldn't be such a bad thing.

[TKMad]

I had Maaco in Ventura do mine and I am extremely happy with it. They blocked it out and painted it after I stripped everything removable off it for $1400.

Excellent for a daily driver in my opinion.

[josh72ooh2]

If you ONLY need paint, then MAACO and Earl Sheib can be a good solution. Those guys paint so many cars, they have it down to a science. I'd prep the car as best you can with trim removal and such.

If you need body work attended to (rust, dents, etc) then i'd try to find somebody who paints cars as a side job. I went to a body shop and asked around and found a guy who fixed and spray my old 4Runner over a weekend for MUCH cheaper then going through a shop. But he seemed to have disappeared (i think he got sent back to mexico)...

-josh